VOORHEES, N.J. — The Flyers’ collective scoring skill may not overwhelm any team this shortened season, yet should be a source of concern for the opposition.

The Flyers’ defense has some gifted players, just not enough of them to ward off concern from within their own executive and coaching offices. On defense, depth is a problem.

To that end, however, there is something about the Flyers that their overworked defensemen can use as inspiration – this club has been fortified with forwards who know how to check.

Start with presumed captain Claude Giroux. He was third in the NHL in point production a season ago, but Giroux’s true strength is that he can be equally effective on both ends of the ice.

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Supporting that is a Flyers checking line group that might be as deep and gifted as any in the league. Center Sean Couturier could fairly be called a strong Selke Award candidate last year as the league’s top defensive forward, and that was as an 18-year-old rookie. With a year under his belt, Couturier should continue to develop next to winger Max Talbot, one of the league’s better shut-down forwards. They are terrific together, and work well with instigator Zac Rinaldo, whose main weapon is annoyance rather than stick skill.

Then there’s newcomer Ruslan Fedotenko, a well-traveled veteran who started his career with the Flyers and developed into a fine defensive forward. They’re all key to a strong sub-group of stingy forwards, one that wouldn’t be complete without last year’s gem of a rookie, Matt Read.

He came in as an over-aged rookie last season with four years of college plus various junior league experiences on his resume. But Read became a sensation. His skills don’t excite like those of fellow sophomores Brayden Schenn or Couturier, but it became obvious as the season went on that Read was simply a rookie that didn’t play like one.

And who doesn’t need a player like that?

“I’ll be in the same role,” Read said Thursday after another Flyers skate without a coach at the Skate Zone. “I’ll fill in different positions all over the ice. I’m very versatile, so I can play, hopefully, on any line.”

While top-liners Claude Giroux and Scott Hartell seems a solid pair, either Schenn or Jakub Voracek will be asked to join them.

While Danny Briere will anchor a second line, it seems logical that Wayne Simmonds and perhaps Fedotenko or Voracek would fit nicely next to him.

Any of the above checking line wizards will take it from there. Meanwhile, Read can fit in anywhere among that four-line cast.

“I’ll concentrate on defense as much as I can and help this team win,” said Read, who also earned some rookie of the year mentions after scoring 24 goals and 47 points with a plus-13 rating in 79 games. “We have so many offensive guys on this team, we don’t need too much offense from me. But at the same time, I can concentrate on (offense) as much as I can.”

As for his personal goals for a pending compacted season of 48 games over 98 days, Read said, “Stick to basics, try to do the right things with the puck, try to get into open ice for your teammates and try to be the hardest working player out there. Hopefully, I’ll have a couple of lucky opportunities, lucky goals and lucky points.

“It doesn’t really matter to me,” Read concluded. “I like being versatile. ... If you’re put in a shut-down role playing against their top line, that’s fine. If you’re on the top two lines you’re supposed to produce goals. Just make the best of every opportunity and be prepared to play any position in any game.”

Sounds like a plan, even one for a guy who at some point may hear about this “sophomore jinx” thing everyone that has a surprisingly good rookie year is bound to hear. But Read doesn’t want to hear it.

“They talk about the sophomore slump, but I think being more mature and older than most rookies (last year), hopefully I can sustain the pressure,” Read said. “I’ll keep working hard and try to be a top player in this league.”

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Newbie Bruno Gervais, who has had his ups and downs on the NHL level, knows he has a solid chance to consistently start here, both due to the compacted schedule and lack of defensive depth.

“It’s going to be a fresh start here,” Gervais said. “We’re going to need a lot of bodies. It’s going to be intense games and playoff mode right off the bat.”

Gervais was moved to sign here partially because of his close friend Max Talbot. Asked how long he’d known Talbot, Gervais said, “Way, way too long. Since we were 10 years old. Our parents know each other really well. They’re trouble when they get together and we baby-sit them a little bit.”

NOTES

Read on the opener Jan. 19 against the Penguins at Wells Fargo Center: “I think that’s going to be pretty exciting. They played their last seven games of (last) season against us. When you get knocked out of the playoffs by a team, you kind of have a little bit of a grudge against them.” ... The players union ratification vote began Thursday night at 8 p.m. and is expected to conclude Saturday morning at 8 a.m., which means schedules could be completed by later tomorrow.